Fish and Chips

[Dannie Boy]

[quote="Takiap"] And here I was thinking the bread crumbed fish was an American things. Okay, so who is responsible for crumbed fish then? [/

Captain Birdseye

[PeteC]

I get the traditional FC at a nearby restaurant here, the deep fried batter version. The wife makes the breadcrumb version at home as less messy and she has a recipe for it. No matter which one, I find the cod or dory used to be very plain tasting. I know you can douse it with the Heinz FC vinegar but is there anything you could/should season the fish itself with prior to battering/crumbing and cooking? I put salt-pepper-lemon on it prior, but it still tastes bland to me. What's the secret spice ingredients? Pete

[BaaBaa.]

Traditional Fish and Chips in England is not breadcrumbed, it's battered, let's clear that up right now.

Tried Beer battered Pete?

I only use salt and Vinegar, no spices.

[Big Boy]

Beer in the batter?

[BaaBaa.]

Beer in the batter?

Great minds.

[pharvey]

Beer in the batter?

Great minds.

The only way to do it!

[Dannie Boy]

I get the traditional FC at a nearby restaurant here, the deep fried batter version. The wife makes the breadcrumb version at home as less messy and she has a recipe for it. No matter which one, I find the cod or dory used to be very plain tasting. I know you can douse it with the Heinz FC vinegar but is there anything you could/should season the fish itself with prior to battering/crumbing and cooking? I put salt-pepper-lemon on it prior, but it still tastes bland to me. What's the secret spice ingredients? Pete

As far as I am aware, the traditional batter in the UK would be made with self raising flour or plain flour with added baking powder and water with a pinch of salt and pepper. Apparently the colder the batter the better, so that it reacts immediately when placed in very hot oil. Many chefs now use soda water or beer to help give a crispier batter, but I don't think it adds much to the flavour. Once cooked, then a generous sprinkling of malt vinegar and salt should bring out the flavour of the fish - fresh rather than thawed frozen fish!! Makes me feel hungry just thinking about it and next week I will be in Devon, so will definitely be having some!!

[dtaai-maai]

In despair some years ago I downloaded a batter recipe from the Internet and told Mrs D-M to get on with it if she wanted to avoid a sound thrashing. As she cowered away in terror, I snarled "And slop a cup of Chang in it while you're at it!"

She also fries the chips in the same batter sometimes - naughty but nice. And onion rings. And squid, etc.

Salt and vinegar, yes, but occasionally some tartar sauce.

I don't think you can ever quite replicate the fish-n-chip-shop taste of mass-produced fried fish, but Mrs D-M keeps me happy.
So to speak.

EDIT: You'll have noticed that the unfortunate Mrs DM is, of course, a battered wife...

[dtaai-maai]

Strictly speaking, the last page and a bit should be on the fish 'n chips thread... which probably deserves its own section by now!

[BaaBaa.]

In despair some years ago I downloaded a batter recipe from the Internet and told Mrs D-M to get on with it if she wanted to avoid a sound thrashing. As she cowered away in terror, I snarled "And slop a cup of Chang in it while you're at it!"

LOL as the kids would say.

[Takiap]

In despair some years ago I downloaded a batter recipe from the Internet and told Mrs D-M to get on with it if she wanted to avoid a sound thrashing. As she cowered away in terror, I snarled "And slop a cup of Chang in it while you're at it!"

She also fries the chips in the same batter sometimes - naughty but nice. And onion rings. And squid, etc.

Salt and vinegar, yes, but occasionally some tartar sauce.

I don't think you can ever quite replicate the fish-n-chip-shop taste of mass-produced fried fish, but Mrs D-M keeps me happy.
So to speak.

EDIT: You'll have noticed that the unfortunate Mrs DM is, of course, a battered wife...

Does your missus cook it in a deep fat fryer? If so, how often do you change the oil? For an authentic F&C shop taste, the oil needs to be used 1000 times.......lol.

[PeteC]

Perhaps my palate has simply changed after being assaulted by chilies for too many years. Next batch I'll try sprinkling dried chili flakes on the fish before battering. Pete

[Takiap]

If you do that, you'll probably have to share it with extended family.

[PeteC]

......then a generous sprinkling of malt vinegar and salt should bring out the flavour of the fish - fresh rather than thawed frozen fish!!......

Someone please tell me if they find fresh cod in any upmarket store here?! Imported and previously frozen, maybe. If that's really the key to tasty FC's, perhaps we need to experiment with local Thai fish that can be found fresh daily; snapper, grouper, ocean perch, sea bass and ???.

The only imported fresh fish that I know of is at a Japanese restaurant near me which gets a shipment of salmon and tuna flown in from Tokyo every Monday for sashimi. You pay through the nose for that so I don't want to think about what fresh cod big enough for FC would cost. Pete

[dtaai-maai]

Does your missus cook it in a deep fat fryer? If so, how often do you change the oil? For an authentic F&C shop taste, the oil needs to be used 1000 times.......lol.

We have got a deep fat fryer somewhere, bought 6-7 years ago in Macro, I think. Principally for frying chips. It actually looks like a mini version of the chip shop equipment!

It's electric, and I think I/we came to the conclusion that it didn't heat the oil to a high enough temperature. Might give it another try, though, if we can find it.